You Are My Best Friend, That's Why
by OneCutePug
Summary: An argument between brothers brings back sweet childhood memories of happier days when all someone needed was a hideout and a playmate. Just because you grow up, doesn't mean you have to change; Leonardo and Raphael learn this the hard way.


**Hello, everyone! Here's another one-shot! Yes, I have been working on ****Personality Problems ****and ****Happiness is Bliss****, but I haven't finished either of the newest chapters yet. Sorry! Anyway, hope you enjoy this little one-shot! Leave a review with a comment, or constructive criticism! Enjoy!**

Title: You Are My Best Friend, That's Why

Rating: K+

Leonardo was pissed. Pissed at the failing of his plan, at the Foot ninjas who had ambushed them, and especially at his doubting second on command. Donnie and Mikey could both sense it, and strode carefully behind him. Raphael walked with an air of indifference and annoyance, only feeding to Leo's anger.

"Dang it, Raph!" Leo swore. "Why do you always have to question me? My orders NEED to be obeyed, because I'm the team LEADER! Am I not good enough or something? HUH?" Leo yelled at his hotheaded younger brother as they stormed into the lair. "Your questioning my orders ruined everything!" Both Donnie and Mikey sighed and rolled their eyes at each other as another one of their eldest brothers' infamous fights broke out.

"NO! If they were GOOD orders, then I wouldn't have to question them!" Raph retorted.

"You ALWAYS say that!"

"That's because it's TRUE!"

"Is it because Splinter chose ME to be the team leader? ME and not YOU?" Leo screamed.

Raph's vision was blurring with red rage. "NO! I COULD CARE LESS ABOUT YOU BEING THE TEAM LEADER!" Donnie and Mikey began to exchange nervous glances. They'd seen their brothers fight before, but usually it was never this intense. Normally it died down right about now-

"THAT'S A LIE!" Leonardo's face was turning crimson. He was starting to get really angry, and Raph was seeing red.

"NO IT'S NOT! HONESTLY, I COULD CARE LESS!"

"WHATEVER! LEAVE OUR TEAM AND START YOUR OWN IF YOU WANT TO BE LEADER SO BADLY! GO ON!"

"Wait, who would join HIS team?!" Mikey butted in, a confused look on his face. Donnie face-palmed and a low snarl ripped away from Leo. He smiled sheepishly and stepped back down next to Donnie.

"MAYBE I WILL!" Raph retorted.

"GOOD! BECAUSE I DON'T NEED YOU ON MY TEAM! I DON'T NEED YOU FOR MY FRIEND, OR EVEN MY BROTHER! I HATE YOU! I HATE YOU, RAPHAEL!" Three life-altering words tumbled accidently from the eldest's mouth.

Donnie's jaw dropped immediately, and Mikey was gaping at his older brothers in shock. They were both staring at Leo like he had killed someone. In a way, he had.

He killed Raph's heart.

Raph's clenched fists slowly fell apart and dropped to his sides. His face was drenched in hurt and betrayal, and his shoulders slumped down in defeat. He turned his sorrowful gaze away from the turtle he once called a friend.

"Oh no!" Leo gasped. "Raph, I didn't mean it! I didn't-" Leo began blabbering frantically, trying to take back his cruel words.

Raph wouldn't even make eye contact with him. Slowly, the hotheaded turtle turned and trudged out of the lair, heading off to the sewers to be alone.

"LEO!" Donnie shouted. "WHAT THE SHELL DID YOU JUST DO?" His normally calm and peaceful brother was fuming. "WHY THE SHELL WOULD YOU DO THAT?" He tried to storm over to Leo to give him a piece of his mind, but Mikey grabbed his arm.

"Donnie, Donnie, CHILL! We DON'T need another Raph around here!" He chuckled weakly, but when 'Doomsday Donnie' turned on him, he shut up. "Right now, all we need to do is go and find Raph!" Mikey wouldn't meet Leo's eyes, either. He dragged Donatello out of the lair to begin a search.

Leonardo was left all by himself in the lair. "Oh no!" He groaned and put his head in his hands. "What have I done?" He plopped down onto the couch.

"Leonardo?" A very familiar voice rang out. "What is wrong, my son? I heard a lot of yelling from you and your brothers."

"Me and Raph got into a fight… It was pretty bad!" Leo didn't dare look up at his father, for fear he would be faced with disappointment.

"You two have had bad fights before," Splinter said. "What made this one any different?"

"I… I… I told him that I hated him!" Leo admitted.

"Ah," the rat sat down beside his eldest son on the couch and put his hand on Leo's shoulder. "You need to apologize to Raphael. He may seem angry and unreasonable at times, but he truly does respect you." Splinter paused a moment. "After all, do you remember when you first met Karai? He tried to lead an attack against Snakeweed, but Michelangelo got hurt. He doesn't want the burden of being a leader."

Leo sat straight up. "You mean, he was telling the truth?" When his sensei nodded, Leo wailed, "I JUST MADE IT WORSE!" He flung his hands over his face. "Now he won't listen to me! I told him I didn't need him; why would he even bother now?" Leo looked up with sad, huge eyes.

"He will. If you truly mean your apology, he will forgive you." Splinter sighed, and Leo leaned into his father for a brief moment of thankfulness.

"SENSEI!" Their father-son bonding moment was cut short as Donnie and Mikey stumbled back into the lair. "We can't find Raph anywhere!" Mikey's cry quieted as he caught a glimpse of Leo sitting beside him.

"Raphael WILL come back!" Splinter reassured the orange clad turtle. "We are his family, and this is his home."

"Well, we WERE his family until someone told him that he hated him!" Don muttered under his breath. He glared at Leo but winced when Splinter stomped his cane onto the concrete.

"Okay, okay, I get it!" Leo stood up and whipped around to face his remaining brothers. "It was all MY fault that Raph's gone now! It was all MY fault he left, and now I'M going to go find him!" He blew past Donnie and Mikey, and he stalked out into the sewers.

"Do you even know where he is?" Donnie jeered. "If we couldn't find him, what makes you think you could?"

"Actually, I do!" Leo replied sharply. "I know EXACTLY where he is!" Leo smirked inwardly at the shocked expression on the purple clad turtle's face.

"You just got burned!" Mikey giggled, teasing the brainiac turtle.

"Shut up, shell for brains!" Donnie lifted up a fist, and the orange clad turtle cringed away.

"Do you think he really does?" Mikey whispered to Splinter.

"I do, Mikey, I really do." Leo whispered as he ventured off into the tunnels.

Flashback

"Leo! Leo! Wake up! Wake up!" 5 year-old Raphael shook his big brother awake. "It's weally important, Leo!"

Leo yawned and stretched, sitting up and looking around him blearily. "What's wrong, Raph? Don't tell me Mikey wet the bed again!"

"No, he didn't." Raph responded cheerily, considering the fact it was 2 AM.

"Is Donnie reading under his bed sheets again? With that old flashlight Sensei found the other day?"

"I thought that Splinter took that away from him. And no!"

"Did you have a nightmare?" Leo asked disbelievingly.

"No way, Leo!" Raph shook his head. "I don't have nightmares!"

"Oh yeah? Remember that one time you-"Raph clamped his hand over his big brother's mouth.

"You don't have to keep telling that story!" Raph glared at the smothered grin on Leo's beak.

"Okay, okay," The grin still didn't fade away. "Why did you wake me up? I'm out of ideas. It's the middle of the night, in case you hadn't noticed."

"I went into the sewers and-"

"WHAT?" Leo shrieked. "You went into the sewers? ALONE?"

"SHH!" Raph hissed. "Don't wake the others!"

"Sorry," Leo apologized, still looking a little greener than normal. "Keep going."

"I was in one of the old tunnels, and I found a bunch of cool things! Toys and stuff! I was going to bring them back to the lair when I found a secret cave. I moved all of it in there!" Raph spilled his secret. "I wanna show it to you!"

"Wow!" Leo gasped. "You want ME to go see your secret hideout?"

Raph nodded and grabbed Leo's hand. "Yeah, come on!" Leo yanked on his blue mask haphazardly and tiptoed out of the lair behind Raph. The sewers were dark and eerie at night, and Leo shivered slightly. He was glad Raph was there with him. It was nice having a brother that could scare away all the monsters for you.

Raph squeezed Leo's hand tightly. "Don't worry, Leo; it isn't THAT far away from the lair. Maybe 2 minutes?" He cocked his head as he tried to reckon the time. His bright green eyes shone like a cat's, lighting up the darkness.

The two oldest brothers padded along in silence for another minute or so, until Raph stopped in front of a barely noticeable crack in the wall. He slipped inside, and Leo froze, uncertain as whether he needed to follow Raph or not.

Raph poked his head out of the crack. "Hurry up, Leo! Come on!" Almost unwillingly, Leo slipped inside, and his mouth dropped open is shock. His blue eyes were as wide as dinner plates as he took in his surroundings.

"Wow!" He gasped, and Raph beamed widely beside him. It was a fairly small area, probably caused by the building of the subway, but old and forgotten. It was still big enough for all four of the turtle tots (if the other two were there) and lit up dimly by cracks in the ceiling. The walls and ground was covered in dirty mud splatters.

On the ground were several piles of…stuff Raphael had scavenged up. One slashed and muddy tire was propped up against a big stack of cardboard boxes. A collection of wooden sticks were scattered all over, and a few dented tin cans were lying here and there.

Raph puffed out his plastron in pride. "Thanks, Leo!"

Leo dashed over to mess with the tire; it was almost as big as he was! "It's so cool! I can't believe you found all of this!" He stuck his head through the hole in the middle and made a funny face.

"So do you… do you wanna play with me?" Raph scuffed his foot in one of the mud puddles as he waited hopefully for Leo's reply.

"Yeah! Of course I do!" Leo exclaimed. Raph perked up, his face breaking into a huge grin. "Come on!" Leo held out his hand to Raph, who took it.

The two turtle tots ran around that entire night, using cardboards to build (and live in) forts, the sticks to fight as the 'pirates' Splinter told them about in their lessons the other day. The old tin cans were raced around as the matchbox cars they never got to play with.

Exhausted after their playtime, the boys collapsed upon the tire, snuggled up together. Their shells fit together like two pieces of a jigsaw puzzle. Labored breathing filled the silence until Leo dared to speak.

"Raphie?"

"Yeah?"

"Why did you show me your secret hideout?" Leo let loose the question that had been weighing down his shell their entire adventure. His brother looked at him with confused eyes.

Raph was silent for a moment as he pondered the answer. "You're my brother!" He said simply.

"Yeah, but so are Mikey and Donnie!" Leo pointed out. "Why me?"

Raph turned his head and green eyes looked into blue. "You are my best friend, that's why." Leo grinned, a smile bursting with happiness, joy, and love.

"I love you, Raphie!" He grabbed Raph's hand, and pressed his forehead against his little brother's.

"I love you too, big brother." Raph grinned back. "You'll always be my best friend."

End of Flashback

Leo shook the sweet turtle tot memory from his mind as he came upon Raph's childhood hideout. The entrance crack was smaller than Leo remembered, and he had to squeeze in, scratching his shell in the process. He poked his head inside the cave; Raph was there, his shell facing the door as he sat in the same tire that held their childhood confessions. If he had heard Leo, he made no sign of it.

"Raph? I need to talk to you," Leo said.

Raph stiffened up. "Go 'way, Leo." Raph murmured, his voice raspy and broken. It had a rough edge, tougher than usual, that made Leo suspect he had been crying. Sharp pangs pained Leo's heart; he had made his baby brother he loved more than life itself cry.

"Come on, Raph! We need to talk," Leo insisted.

"What, so you can yell at me some more?" Raph halfheartedly snapped. "I don't want to listen to that again." Leo finished his squeeze through the crack, having to duck his head to avoid banging it. He grabbed the tire and swung it around to get Raph to look him in the eyes. Leo's blue eyes widened in grief at the pitiful sight before him.

The red clad turtle's beak was red and raw; Raph's eyes were almost swollen shut, and his bandana was soaked, giving it the appearance of being dark crimson. He glared at Leo with all his normal fury, but it dissipated after a moment, and he broke eye contact. "Raph! What happened to you?"

"Nothing, Leonardo. Why would you even care?" Raphael's voice was devoid of all emotion as he stared at the ground.

"I care because you are my brother!"

"Oh, really?" Raph jeered. "I almost forgot… you care, but you hate me? Kinda an oxymoron there, Leo."

"Raph! I'm serious!"

"Well, you know what, Leonardo? So am I!" Raph snarled. "I am DEAD serious, and so were you! QUIT LYING TO ME!"

"I'm not lying to you!" Leo sighed. "Just… listen to me!"

"I DID! AND YOU SEE WHERE THAT GOT ME? I LOST A BROTHER!" RAPH screamed back. "I LOST MY BIG BROTHER!"

"NO YOU DIDN'T! IF YOU'D LISTEN TO ME I COULD TELL YOU THAT!"

"Well shoot, Leo! Go for it! You have 30 seconds. Go!" Raph leaned back into the tire.

"Raph, I'm sorry! I am so, so sorry!" He apologized, and Raph snorted.

"25 seconds!"

"We were both angry, and I said some things that I really regret. I didn't mean to say that; it just sort of slipped out. I didn't mean it!" Leo sighed. "I DON'T HATE YOU!"

"10 seconds left."

"I know you probably won't trust me for a while now… I wouldn't trust me, either. I'm so sorry!" Leo was babbling.

"5 seconds!"

"You are my best friend, that's why." Leo whispered. "I couldn't live without you. I love you, Raphie!" Raph froze and his eyes went blank as memory after memory of them in the hideout flashed by. He was reliving that moment in the present.

"Leo," Leo shut his eyes as he waited for the verdict from the jury of fury. "I love you, too." Cautiously, the leader opened his eyes to see Raph half-smiling at him. Leo grinned and stood up, holding out a hand. Raph grabbed it, grinning deviously, and pulled Leo down beside him on the tire.

"Whoa!" Leo shrieked as he flew through the air. Raph roared with laughter as Leo sat up with beet red cheeks. "Hey! Why'd you do that?"

"Just because you're my best friend, doesn't mean I can't have some fun messing with you!" Leo's cheeks went pink again.

"Well, just because you're my little brother, doesn't mean I'll go easy on you and not whoop your shell in a sparring match!"

"You're on!" Raph leapt up, banging his head on the ceiling in the process. "OW!"

It was Leonardo's turn to laugh as he slowly stood up, taking care to avoid doing the same mistakes his brother had done. "You okay?"

Raph groaned, "I'm fine."

"Good thing you're head is so hard, otherwise it could've done some real damage!" Leo snickered as Raph tried to punch him. Leo slung an arm around his brother's shoulders as the stood side by side. "You ready?"

"I was BORN ready, Fearless!" Both turtles were laughing as they exited the cave without a second glance back. They walked on, on to their home, and on to their family.

Two brothers, two best friends. That's all they'll ever be.


End file.
